Thursday, July 20, 2017

Secretum Secretorum – The Secret of Secrets

Welcome to probably the longest-running bestselling self-help book in known history.

The Secret of Secrets was one of the most widely-read texts of the High Middle Ages. Medieval readers took the ascription to Aristotle as authentic and treated this work among Aristotle’s genuine works. It was on the medieval “best-seller” list for hundreds of years. (And was reportedly traced to even earlier Arabic texts…)

Copland’s text has been interpreted with more modern American English, keeping the format true to their Middle English grammar and phrasing in order to preserve the original meaning as much as possible.

Primarily, I’ve worked to keep this text to simple word-substitution. This book is being published as a beta version in order to add to our knowledge, not as a final and authoritative work.

The reader will find some interesting terms with now-archaic (even obsolete) uses. However, you will find your self living and understanding the regal life of the Middle Ages, a time before modern chemistry, but not before physicians (or even lawyers).